Officers from the UK’s Royal Navy searched for the missing Argentine submarine San Juan in the South Atlantic on Monday, November 20. This video, shared by the UK’s Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Royal Navy, show the view from inside the HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship, as it endured waves of up to 10 metres. The HMS Protector arrived in the South Atlantic on November 19, following a request for assistance from the Argentine government, the Royal Navy said. The Protector was joined by the Royal Navy’s specialist Submarine Parachute Assistance Group and the Falklands Islands patrol vessel HMS Clyde to assist with the search efforts. The UK’s Royal Navy was joined by international naval teams from the US, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru for the rescue mission. The search for San Juan, which had 44 people on board, had become increasingly desperate after it last made contact with navy officials on Wednesday, November 15, ABC reported. The vessel only had enough oxygen supply for seven days if submerged, the news broadcaster reported. Credit: Twitter/HMS Protector via Storyful

November 22nd 2017

4 months ago

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A relative drops to his knees after discovering an explosion occurred near the last known position of the San Juan submarine. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

THE ARGENTINE Navy says that a sound detected in the missing submarine search is consistent with an explosion.

Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said a “singular, short, violent, non-nuclear” event was detected off the coast of Argentina around the time when ARA San Juan and its 44 sailors went missing.

Family members of the crew had gathered to received the news on Thursday.

The wife of one crew member described the submarine as a “piece of crap”.

“They sent a piece of crap to sail,” Itati Leguizamon, wife of crew member German Suarez told the Associated Press. “They inaugurated a submarine with a coat of paint and a flag in 2014, but without any equipment inside. The navy is to blame for its 15 years of abandonment.”

He first broke news of the explosion to families, but struggled to conclude the conference as relatives began to wail inconsolably.

Relatives and comrades of 44 crew members of Argentine missing submarine express their grief at Argentina's Navy base in Mar del Plata, on the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Relatives and comrades of 44 crew members of Argentine missing submarine express their grief. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Struggling to listen to the rest of his announcement, another relative fled the conference shouting: “They lied to us. Bosses steal all the money!”

That news came as an object detected by a US Navy plane near the area where the submarine went missing turned out not to be the missing vessel, a US embassy spokeswoman said.